Hi,
I work with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on my laptop and desktops. I am facing two issues:
i) Even in LTS, every week there are upgrades, on one count or other. This is not a concern, but what is painful is that if the upgrade does some tweaking of the kernel, I lose the support for Gnome Desktop and Nvidia...To get the machine back to the desktop, I have to sometimes knock off Nvidia*, and then try repairing with the advanced choices...otherwise the system boots up but the X-Display is unaccessible...
2. Secondly, why does Ubuntu want me to use DHCP...? I conmfigure it always for static IP, and even write out a /etc/resolv.conf...but the NM deletes the entries... I want a solution to this issue...I am using a Vostro 3570, an Inspiron 530 and a Envy15 Laptop,,,

3. I find that the network is never a problem with the FC20, which I use with dual boot...what is wrong with Ubuntu Networking implementation please?

4. Finally, my most urgent question (to anyone who can help) is how to directly load Ubuntu or FC20 on to a desktop or laptop on a new disk...From where can I get the basic Linux drivers ...? There is no such problem with Win7!!! (IMHO which is a much poorer OS for professional computing...)
5. Dell though it supports Ubuntu 12.04, refuses to give the drivers even for their systems under warranty, ditto for HP...So Dear Sirs where does one go for a remedy...

Warm Regards

For the NVIDIA problem if you have nvidia-kernel-dkms installed it ought to work things out for itself, though you may need to reboot after any kernel updates to get your graphical desktop back.
As far as drivers go for installing onto a machine -- most required drivers are installed by default in most distributions as kernel modules and the like but I would recommend connecting to the internet using an ethernet cable in case non-free wireless firmware is required though things like Debian's no-free installer do include a lot of these and allowed me to install and download packages using my wireless card.